Cloud starts at lvl 6/7 on Final Fantasy 7. It reflects his narrative point of being a former elite SOLDIER who has become a mercenary. Even though you don't get a long story scene you get something and when you take over control after the intro the first mission is extremely straightforward and linear. You don't have a large open map you walk around forever, multiple directions, multiple skills, etc.
I understand that you want to start your game dev not from the playthru start but it's a bit complicated for the player and the most important parts of a game should be the start and the end so maybe you want to start working on that start.